Abstract
For Schwinger pair production with background electric fields varying only in time, it is shown that the quantum kinetic approach, based on the quantum Vlasov equation, and the quantum mechanical scattering approach are completely equivalent. This different perspective on the quantum kinetic approach suggests new approximation methods, which are tested in detail using a soluble pulselike field configuration, and may give useful insight for generalization to more general electric fields, varying in more than one dimension.
- Received 14 January 2009
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.79.065027
©2009 American Physical Society